My apologies if this has been discussed before but I couldn't find anything by searching. The gaiter on the ball joint between the Telelever wishbone and the bottom yoke of my R1200GS has split and I'm looking for the easiest way to replace it. I've ordered a used ball-joint (the gaiter isn't available as an individual part) but I'd be grateful, before I try to take the front end apart, for any suggestions about how to move the Telelever wishbone to get at the joint below, Every fastener appears to be held in place with some sort of adhesive so advice on how hot the fasteners need to be to let go would also be welcome.

You may want to check for your closest coop tractor shop. Some replacement boot for agricultural shaft equipment may just fit right.

The bolt is a little painful to remove, you need to make a "specialty" tool by opening a window into a long socket, so that you can fit an Allen inside the socket. Did that with a table saw, not ideal but worked well enough to extrude the socket, after that , was piece of cake.

Did you put the rescue tape over the cracked boot or take old boot off and then tape it? Did you put grease into socket before taping?

Nope, I just put the tape right over the old boot. Originally, I was concerned enough to take the bike to the dealer and see about having a new boot installed. They took a look and said the ball joint looked good, but that I couldn't just get the boot replaced. They suggested silicone tape. It looked clean inside the cracked boot, so I just wrapped the tape over the old boot and she's doing fine.

How long do you think the boot was torn before you applied the tape? Did you see any dirt inside the area near the tear?

I usually keep an eye on things on the bike, so I don't think the boot was torn more than a few weeks before I noticed. It looked clean inside the boot, but I didn't think to stuff a bunch of grease in there. I just used the silicone tape to wrap it up.

So far I've sourced a gaiter (from a good used ball joint) and heated the nut above the Telelever arm to break the locking compound. Once the nut is loose, lifting the bike under the engine allows the joint to slide through the Telelever arm. What I'm wondering about doing is, with a support under the engine and the front wheel just off the ground, removing the front suspension unit lower mounting bolt, removing the nut on the joint, then lifting the Telelever arm clear. What I don't know is whether the entire front end will fall apart when I do this as the weight of the forks and wheel will be hanging from the top steering head bearing. I'm also concerned about over-extending the fork legs. Has anyone tried this undoubtedly non-approved method?

When I surveyed the job some while ago I felt the entire front end would drop down when you take that joint apart . In tact, the front end is pretty heavy. From memory here, I think you need to at least disconnect the calipers and remove the front wheel. Since the brake line incorporates the lower fork bridge which will drop away, I think you need to disconnect the brake line on the bridge as well. Bleed brakes upon reassembly. Finally, the forks might need to be removed and the shock disconnected at the bottom. Not sure about the last two. Therefore, Rescue Tape to the rescue.

Ask your dealer for an estimate and subtract the price of the whole ball joint part ($117.00; the gaiter is not available as a separate item - thanks BMW) to get a sense of how much time it would take an experienced tech with the proper tools. Shocking?

A week ago I installed the ebay one sent from Greece. The new rubber is definately stronger than the original one. I had the front end appart for painting anyways so installation was fast.
There is a video on youtube about installing the gaiter. When installing the upper plastic ring I found it easier to place the ring on the gaiter first and then slide the whole thing on top of the balljoint.

I was also a bit worried when sending money to Greece but that guy still delivers!